Premium
Characterization of Glycogen and Amino Acid Pool of Entamoeba histolytica by 13 C‐NMR Spectroscopy
Author(s) -
BAKKERGRUNWALD TILLY,
MARTIN JEANBAPTISTE,
KLEIN GERARD
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of eukaryotic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 1066-5234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1995.tb01592.x
Subject(s) - biology , valine , biochemistry , putrescine , proline , isoleucine , phenylalanine , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , amino acid , entamoeba histolytica , glycogen , glycogen branching enzyme , osmolyte , leucine , stereochemistry , glycogen synthase , chemistry , enzyme , microbiology and biotechnology
. Trophozoite extracts of axenic Entamoeba histolytica were investigated by natural‐abundance 13 C‐NMR spectroscopy. The extracts were found to contain a high level of glycogen (30 mM glucose equivalents), which had a compact structure as suggested by α (1 → 6) branch points every 5–6 glucose residues. As other major metabolites, we identified putrescine (9.5 mM) and the following free amino acids: tyrosine and phenylalanine (1 mM), glycine, lysine and methionine (2 mM), isoleucine (5 mM), proline and valine (6–7 mM), leucine (11 mM) and glutamate (22 mM). Glutamate and proline may serve, together with putrescine, as intracellular osmolytes.